1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to technology for controlling devices, and more particularly, to a method and system that enable one device to control a user interface of another device (i.e., a remote device), using a remote user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many industry standard groups, such as Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), Home Audio-Video interoperability (HAVi), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), etc., actively research and develop home network technology.
Remote User Interface (RUI) technology has been recently developed that enables one device to remotely control another remote device. RUI technology is achieved based on client-server architecture, where an RUI Client (RUI-C) fetches a UI from an RUI Server (RUI-S) so that a user at the RUI-C can control the RUI-S via the UI.
A Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) standard of RUI, CEA-2014, defines frameworks and protocols for an RUI over a UPnP network and the Internet. In CEA-2014, the UPnP device (i.e., RUI sever) provides user interfaces, via web pages in a Consumer Electronics HyperText Markup Language (CE-HTML) format, to a user (i.e., RUI client), and the user remotely controls the UPnP device via the web pages. The CE-HTML is a special version of HTML and based on eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML).
Because many services provided to conventional Personal Computer (PC) environments can also be provided to CE devices and mobile devices in similar formats, the UIs, which were previously established to meet the conventional PC requirements, need to be re-established to meet the requirements of CE and mobile devices. However, compared to the PC, it more difficult for CE and mobile devices to operate UIs on their generally smaller screens. Further, the PC enables the user to control the screen using input devices, such as a mouse, a keyboard, etc., while E and mobile devices generally limit interaction through a touchscreen or the existing input devices included therein.